The Friend She Needed

by RySenkari

Andrea's bullying causes Molly's craft fair to be a bust, and Darryl is out to give his sister's bully a piece of his mind. Unfortunately, while doing so, a gang of kidnappers show up to abduct Andrea for ransom, and they take Darryl too. Now, the two unlikely partners in captivity will need to lean on each other in order to survive.

"I mean it, Darryl, gimme your phone!"

"Aww, c'mon, Molly, I'm not gonna try anything..."

"I said gimme!"

With a long, drawn out sigh and a very visible eye roll, Darryl handed his cell phone to his older sister Molly. Normally, he'd never be one to take orders from his older sister, but it was the only way she'd let him go talk to Andrea... and he really needed to talk to Andrea.

Besides, he had a spare.

"And the ankle holster."

"What?"

"I mean it, Darryl, the phone in your ankle holster, give it!"

Had a spare... in the past tense. He reached down to his leg, pulled down his sock, and handed the phone in his ankle holster to Molly. His plans to take down Andrea technologically had failed... but perhaps he could convince his older sister that she needed to be taken down a peg regardless.

"C'mon, Molly, lemme wreck her life a little bit! This is like the third time she's messed with you this week, aren't you getting sick of it?"

Molly sighed, knowing that her little brother had a point. The insults on social media, the ridicule at school... Molly was used to all of that, and could tolerate Andrea Davenport's bullying to a point, but today had been quite the downer. She'd planned to host a craft fair for all of Brighton at the park, but Andrea had ruined it by announcing the debut of a brand new line of Davenport's branded clothing that same day... and was launching it at the exact same time, having just announced it that morning. Molly had worked hard all week to put the fair together, but she was no match for Andrea's social influencing, and she knew the upstaging had been set up because she'd refused to take one of Andrea's craft commissions earlier that week. She'd tried her best not to say anything, but it had clearly gotten to her, and Darryl had seen it in his sister's face all day. She was upset, and he was just as sick of Andrea as Molly was.

"She ruined your craft fair, don't you wanna ruin something of hers just a little?"

"Of course not, that would be mean!" replied Molly, putting on her best smile. "I'm sure it's just a coincidence that Davenport's new clothing launch event would be today... and that it was just announced this morning... after I refused to make a shawl for her to model at the craft fair... hehehehe..."

"C'mon, if you don't do something, she's just gonna push you and everyone else around even more than she already does!" shouted Darryl, reaching his hand out toward his sister. "Just gimme my phone back, it's not too late to hack into her social media and-"

"No!" Molly replied sharply, gripping both of Darryl's phones tightly. "I already messed up once with the Do-Gooder incident, I'm going to be the bigger person this time! I won't stop you from going to see Andrea, but you're going to use your words, not your evil computer hacking skills, got it?"

"...whatever," groaned Darryl, putting his hands in his pockets and starting toward the park. "You can at least come with me to join in, can't you Molly?"

"No, I'm quite okay," Molly replied, still putting on a smile that clearly hid a lot of anger and resentment. "You go on and let her know just how you feel! But... be nice about it, okay?"

"No promises," Darryl said with a smirk.

As Darryl walked toward the park, he tried thinking about just what he might say to the high and mighty Andrea. He'd had few interactions with her in the past, save for a few angry glares when he was watching Andrea bully his sister. He did remember dumping a ton of fake blood on her during the filming of the horror movie she'd hijacked from Molly, which was one of his fondest memories since coming to Brighton. He hoped to pull something fun like that on Andrea today, but thanks to his sister's veto, he'd have to think of something clever instead.

He knew Andrea could destroy his reputation just like she'd attempted to do with Molly, but it wasn't something he worried too much about. If push came to shove, he could always ask Scratch to intervene... though on this particular day, Scratch was resting after helping Molly out all week with her crafts.

Sis really put her heart and soul into the craft fair, and that jerk Andrea ruined it! thought Darryl, stewing silently. I don't care if I get in trouble, I'm gonna tell her exactly what I think of her messing with my sister!

Once he reached the park, it didn't take him long to find Andrea, who was already packing everything away. Earlier that day, thousands of people had lined up to buy Davenport's branded clothing from the impromptu display that Andrea had set up in the park, and those who spent the most had even gotten the honor of getting their picture taken with Brighton's most popular middle schooler and social influencer. The whole thing was enough to make Darryl barf, but the fact that it had ruined what was supposed to be such a special day for his sister just made him mad, and when he saw Andrea packing up the last of the boxes, he could barely contain his anger.

"Well, it's been another lovely day of making Brighton the most fashionable town around, courtesy of its very own Andrea Davenport!" chirped the girl, smiling as she took a video of herself. "I hope all my Fandreas had a wonderful time trying on the latest fashions! Thanks for coming out, and-"

"Hey!" shouted Darryl, storming over to Andrea as she finished her video. "Aaaannnn-drea!"

Andrea gasped, hearing her name pronounced the exact way she insisted it never be pronounced.

"It's AHN-drea!" she shouted, before recognizing who was walking over to her. "Oh... it's you... Molly's little brother."

"That's right, and I'm here to tell you that you're a jerk for having your stupid fashion show at the same time my sister was supposed to have her craft fair!"

"Excuse me?" Andrea replied, putting her hand to her chest and putting on an innocent face. "Davenport's has planned this event for weeks, if you were one of my Fandreas, you would know that!"

"I follow all your dumb social media pages, and none of them said anything about an event until just this morning!"

Andrea's face shifted... clearly Darryl didn't believe her, and there wasn't much she could say to convince him otherwise.

"Well, it's... it's a flash sale! They're supposed to happen in a flash, don't get upset with me because you missed it!"

Darryl groaned in frustration.

"I'm not upset because I missed it, I'm upset because you ruined Molly's craft fair that she's been working all week on! In fact, you've been nothing but mean to my sister since we got to Brighton! You tried to freeze her out on her first day, you took over her movie, and you and your friends keep bullying her at school!"

"First of all, I did not try to freeze her out, she mispronounced my name and I have every right to be upset about that! Secondly, I was the star of her movie, and I was doing a great job until she pulled that stupid stunt with her ghost actor! She ruined my chance at stardom and my family's friendship with Greta Gerwig!"

"Uh, you're the one who said your life was more important than hers," said Darryl with a smirk.

"Because it is!"

"What is wrong with you?" shouted Darryl, leaning up toward Andrea. She recoiled from him as if he was scaring her, but more likely it was because he hadn't taken a bath that morning. "You think you're so much better than anyone else because you have like a bajillion followers online..."

"Uh, duh," said Andrea, cracking a proud smile.

"Well I got news for you, you're just a bully and you better leave my sister alone!"

Andrea gasped in indignation and leaned back toward Darryl, towering over him and jabbing her finger at his face.

"How dare you talk to me like that! Did Molly put you up to this?"

"No, because she's way too nice to tell you what she really thinks of you! If she hadn't taken my phone before I came out here, I would've hacked into all your pages to show your stupid 'Fandreas' just what type of person you really are!"

"And just what type of person am I?" asked Andrea, trying her best to intimidate Darryl.

"You're nothing but a selfish, cowardly, spoiled, rude, mean, stupid, ugly jerkface!"

Andrea's eyes widened in rage, and she clenched her fists tightly. Darryl, not scared in the slightest, just leaned forward again, until the two of them were facing each other with their noses just a few inches apart. Then, Andrea laughed, causing Darryl to raise his eyebrow in confusion. She pulled out her phone and brought up her social media page, a diabolical smirk on her face.

"You know what? When I'm finished with my latest post, your sister Molly will never be able to show her face in school again, what do you think of that, huh?"

"I think it'll be the last thing you ever post!" shouted Darryl. "If you mess with my sister again, I'll-"

"You'll what?" Andrea replied, continuing to smirk. "Think you can get your phone back from your sister before I call my dad and have him hire the best cybersecurity team money can buy?"

Darryl blinked, backing down slightly.

...maybe I didn't think this through...

"That's it, run along now," said Andrea, holding up her phone as a windowless black van pulled up behind her. "Or better yet, apologize and maybe I'll just ruin Molly's reputation a little."

Before Darryl could say anything, the van stopped behind Andrea and two masked men climbed out. He noticed them, but as he wondered whether he should warn Andrea or run, one of them suddenly grabbed the blue-haired heiress and clamped a gloved hand over her mouth.

"WHMMMPH?!" Andrea muffled, struggling ferociously.

"Uh...!" Darryl suddenly stammered, starting to back away.

"What about the other kid?" asked one of the masked men, as his partner began carrying Andrea toward the truck.

"Grab him too!" his partner shouted.

Crap...! thought Darryl, who immediately turned and began to run. Unfortunately, he wasn't nearly fast enough, and was soon grabbed and lifted up as well, carried toward the van along with Andrea. "Hmmm, lmmme gmmm!"

As Darryl and Andrea both fought to keep from being taken, Andrea, thinking quickly, pocketed her phone in a moment when her captor was more focused on carrying her than on anything else. She continued to yell and struggle all the way to the van, and she could hear Darryl's muffled screams as well as he was carried into the van with her.

Great, I'm being kidnapped with Molly's bratty brother...! Could this get any worse?!

"Step on it!" shouted the man holding Andrea to the masked getaway driver in the front seat. As the two kids were carried into the van, the men closed it behind them, and the van began to speed off as the two criminals continued to restrain their captives. "Hold still, we don't want to hurt you but we will if you don't do what we say!"

Though terrified, Andrea remained defiant, shooting her captor an indignant glare.

How dare you kidnap me! Andrea muffled through the man's gloved hand, continuing to twist in his grip as she and Darryl were forced to kneel on the floor of the van by the two kidnappers. "Ymll pmm frr thmmph!"

"Ymm jmmmrk!" Darryl muffled, managing to extricate his mouth from the grip of the man holding him and biting down as hard as he could into their fingers. The kidnapper let out a groan, but his thick glove protected him from injury, and Darryl's teeth caused him only a moderately uncomfortable pinching sensation. Failing to injure the kidnapper, Darryl cried out as loud as he could, trying to signal for help from inside the van as it exited the park and turned onto a main road. "HELP!"

"Don't try it, kid, ain't nobody gonna hear you from in here," said the kidnapper, holding Darryl with one hand and reaching for a plastic package with the other. "Still, think it's time to shut both of you up, especially the little rich girl who thinks she's better than everyone else..."

One thing we can agree on, thought Darryl, glaring harshly at Andrea.

What are you looking at?! Andrea muffled, giving Darryl the same angry look she'd been giving the man holding her.

The masked kidnapper pulled a pair of white socks from the package, then tossed it over to his partner, who did the same. Keeping their tight hold on the two captives, they took the socks and rolled them up into balls, as Darryl looked at the logo and wording on the package itself.

"Davenport's socks? Your family even has its own brand of socks?!" Darryl said quizzically, raising an eyebrow.

"Mmmmnph...!" Andrea grunted, before managing to turn her face away from her captor's hand, freeing her mouth to speak. "Of course we do, Davenport's has an entire line of designer clothing, hand-crafted right here in the- mmmmgggglllphhhh!"

Before Andrea could continue her impromptu endorsement, the balled-up pair of socks was jammed firmly into her mouth, and the kidnapper began using his gloved hand to push the white fabric in all the way, as the poor girl protested and attempted to spit them out, to no avail.

"Hey, at least they're a brand new clean pair," said the criminal with a laugh, as he continued to force the socks down into Andrea's mouth, all the way past her teeth. "We could've taken off your friend's socks and stuffed those in your trap instead... we still can if you don't quit fighting!"

"MMMMMM!" Andrea shrieked, horrified by two things: the threat of having Molly's little brother's nasty socks shoved in her mouth, and by the implication that he was her friend... she didn't know which statement was worse.

Meanwhile, Darryl continued to struggle, looking up at his captor who was pinning his arms with one hand and holding a wad of balled-up socks in the other.

"Look dude, I can cut you a sweet deal if you let me go. I don't really care about her, but I can get you all kinds of cool stuff, what do ya say?"

"Kid, you seen us taking the Davenport girl, that makes you a witness, and that means we gotta keep ya under wraps for a while. Play your cards right and we won't hurt either one of ya, but you can't sweet talk your way outta this... besides, we're about to get more money for her than you could ever give us, I bet you don't even have a dollar in your pocket!"

"I got like ten whole bucks- gggmmmlmmmphh!"

Darryl's attempt at bribery was met with a mouthful of socks, just like Andrea... and even though he tried to spit them out as Andrea had tried before, pretty soon he had the entire wad of white fabric filling his mouth, and the kidnappers were soon pulling out something else from their supplies... two fresh rolls of Davenport's branded duct tape.

"Now we're gonna tape you up, behave yourselves and we won't make it too tight..."

Davenport's branded duct tape too?! thought Darryl, giving Andrea another perplexed look. This time around, the blue-haired girl ignored her fellow captor, still trying to spit out the socks while twisting herself violently back and forth in an attempt to escape the man holding her.

You can't treat me like this, I'm Andrea Davenport, you're just some poor criminal who's only doing this because he can't get a job!

Andrea's attempted insults were harshly stifled by her mouth filling gag, and soon, they were muffled further as the extremely sticky tape was pressed down over her lips. She let out a loud shriek, but was helpless to stop the tape from being wrapped repeatedly around her head, tightly constricting her cheeks and sealing in the socks. Her eyes went wide with terror, and a bit of pain as a few loose strands of her hair were caught in the tape, but the kidnapper did grant a small mercy in holding Andrea's hair back so that it wasn't getting wrapped up completely... though this also meant that her lips could be sealed up even more tightly, as there wouldn't be anything blocking the tape from sticking to her skin. At the same time, Darryl was having his own mouth tightly wrapped up, and he let out several angry grunts, fiercely glaring at his kidnapper as his own lips were sealed.

"MMMM! MMM MMM, MMMMPH! MMM MMMMPHH!" Darryl's insults were more juvenile than Andrea's, rather than attacking the kidnappers' lifestyles or financial status, he just called them various names, including a few obscene ones that he'd never get away with saying at home... but the tape and socks rendered him completely silent, and soon he and Andrea were both tightly gagged with a dozen wraps of duct tape each, covering their faces from just under their noses to just below their chins, constricting their jaws and cheeks and preventing any efforts to force out the socks, which were filling their mouths and pushing down their tongues. As the criminals cut the tape free from the rolls, Darryl and Andrea's eyes met, and for the briefest of moments, their anger gave way to fear, allowing them to commiserate for a split second before their annoyance with each other broke through and they turned their heads away.

"Ah, that's much better," said one of the men, kneeling down in front of Andrea and roughly holding her wrists in front of her. "Got a lot quieter in here all of a sudden."

"It sure did," said the other criminal, who'd already begun wrapping duct tape around Darryl's wrists. "Hey, this kinda reminds me of that commercial the girl was in, how's it go?"

"Lemme think... oh yeah!" the man holding Andrea replied, before beginning to sing. "If their whining gets you all out of sorts, gag those brats with Davenport's!"

The two criminals then exchanged a laugh at the out of tune singing, while Andrea's face contorted with rage before she shouted another muffled protest.

This is the most humiliating thing that's ever happened to me, thought Andrea, as she felt tape being wrapped around her wrists. And I've had a LOT of humiliating things happen in the last few months... mostly thanks to that Molly McGee girl... it's all her fault this is happening! I know she put her bratty, nasty little brother up to all this! I wonder how she'll feel knowing she got him kidnapped? As if my parents will pay to get HIM released. ...obviously they'll pay for me, won't they?

Andrea and Darryl could do little more than contemplate their predicament as the two criminals bound them up tightly with plenty more of the Davenport's branded duct tape. Darryl thought about trying to kick and punch, but he knew it'd do him little good... the guy taping him up was way bigger, and though he was clever and usually quite foolhardy, and knew how to take down adults with his wits, this situation wasn't one he was used to, and he didn't dare do anything that could put him in worse danger. ...and a part of him didn't want to put Andrea in worse danger either, even if he hated her guts and didn't really care what happened to her.

Hope your mom and dad have to liquidate your stupid store to pay the ransom, thought Darryl, wondering when Molly and the rest of his family would figure out something was up. Guess Molly and Scratch will try to save me... can't wait to see these jerks flip out when Scratch shows up to mess with them. At least... I hope Scratch shows up...

The two had their wrists bound tightly in front of them, hands clenched into fists and then encased in many layers of tape, completely preventing them from using their fingers to get free. More tape was then wrapped around their arms and chests to pin their encased hands to their bodies, after which their legs were then wrapped up, with Darryl's legs taped at the ankles, and Andrea's taped at the ankles and just above her knees. Andrea couldn't help but shudder as her captor reached above her knees to tape her up, but his hands didn't roam any further than necessary to restrain her, and she got the sense that the criminals had no intentions of taking further advantage of the situation, even if she couldn't entirely rule it out.

That's one less thing to worry about at least... thought Andrea, as her captor's hand finally left her legs once the last of the tape was applied. She looked over at Darryl, and for a brief moment, felt a twinge of sympathy. I wouldn't wish something like that on anyone...

After taping up the kids' legs, the criminals scooted back to inspect their work. As they did, the two captives exchanged another look, their eyes narrowed into glares. Darryl was squirming a bit, testing his bonds and trying to somehow extricate his fingers from the mass of tape that had been wrapped around them, while Andrea just sat still, knowing she wasn't going anywhere and knowing that none of her attempted insults would be understood.

This is your fault, thought Andrea, trying to communicate that to Darryl as best she could.

Serves you right, thought Darryl, twitching one of his middle fingers under the tape, and groaning in frustration when he realized just how helpless he was. Oh come on, can't even flip her the bird?

"Well, still a ways until we get where we're goin', so you two try to get comfortable," said one of the masked kidnappers, laughing as he and his partner took their places at one end of the van, allowing the bound and gagged youths to share the other. "Still need to figure out what to do with you, kiddo... doubt the Davenports'll pay much for the little twerp we picked up with their precious daughter."

Darryl turned his attention to the kidnappers for a moment, twitching his buried middle finger at them before turning back toward Andrea and fuming silently.

Can't believe this is happening... thought Darryl, looking back at Andrea again. Guess she can't either.

Andrea was in disbelief, among other emotions... sitting in the back of a van, being abducted to who knows where with the bratty little brother of the annoying girl from her school, unable to do anything but stare at him as her mind raced. She wanted to struggle, she wanted to scream, but she'd tried both and neither had accomplished anything. She jerked her wrists up and down, but there was so much tape around them that they couldn't even move half an inch apart... it was like her wrists and hands were totally fused together. She could lift her hands up a bit, but couldn't even reach her face, and without the use of her fingers, she couldn't have done anything even if she tried.

"Mmm...mmm...mmmm!"

Andrea tried speaking, then shrieked, letting the frustration get to her for a moment, then closing her eyes and shrieking again. The gag muted it to such a degree that Darryl, sitting just a couple feet across from her, could barely hear it, even though she was exerting a great deal of effort to make noise. Realizing just how helpless she was, her eyes widened, and she thought of her parents and what they might think when they realized she'd been taken.

They... have to pay the ransom, right? Of course they would, I'm their only child... mom and dad would never let these jerks hurt me. ...though they do ignore me often, it's only because they're so busy. Running a store as successful as Davenport's takes lots of work, after all!

Though Andrea was trying to put on a brave face, she was becoming more and more nervous with every second that passed, and as she tried to relax, her taped hands were starting to shake. Across from her, Darryl was doing his best to think about things that made him laugh, trying to take his own mind off the dire situation.

Oh man, it's gonna freak these guys out when Scratch shows up to save me. They'll probably pee their pants! ...I just hope mom and dad don't get worried, and I hope Molly doesn't freak out...

Darryl sighed, continuing to shift in his bonds. He'd never been in a situation like this before... he was usually the one putting others in these kinds of situations. He'd taped Molly to a chair a couple years before, and it took her almost an hour to get out, though she hadn't been tied up nearly as tightly. Thinking back on it, he almost felt guilty for doing that to her... she was really upset, and his laughter hadn't made things any better.

Guess she didn't deserve that, it wasn't like she'd been messing with me. ...she hardly ever messes with me, come to think about it. She's an awesome sister, even if we fight sometimes. I can't believe Andrea hates her so much!

Darryl looked over at Andrea, who had begun squirming and yelling a bit more, though she still wasn't really putting her full effort into escaping. Seeing Andrea all taped up like that, Darryl couldn't help but laugh, if only just a little. He didn't want her hurt, of course, but seeing her frustrated and with her mouth taped shut was really amusing to him, considering how rude she'd been to pretty much everyone around her.

I still say this is all your fault, Andrea. If you hadn't been so mean to Molly, I wouldn't be taped up in this stupid van.

The two then looked at each other again, their eyes narrowing fiercely.

Ugh, I hope you're not enjoying yourself seeing me like this, thought Andrea, rolling her eyes. Don't think I've forgotten about all the rude things you said to me before. I'm still taking it out on your dumb sister!

Andrea then thought about Molly and her craft fair, and how she should've known better than to refuse a request from her...

It wasn't like I wasn't gonna pay you to make me that shawl, thought Andrea. I would've looked totes fabulous in it, and I would've given you a shoutout on my Fandreas page! So what if you didn't have time, you should've made time! Everyone else around here does!

She then thought about what Darryl had told her before, and how bad he said Molly felt when no one showed up to the craft fair...

...it wasn't like I ruined anything special. If anything, I did you a favor! Who wants to buy clothes and crafts from you when they could buy them from my family's store? You would've just been laughed at anyway... right?

Darryl mumbled something under his gag, his eyes still narrowed in anger. Andrea recoiled slightly in indignation, but she continued to think about Molly, and Darryl's words from earlier echoed in her mind.

...I don't deserve to be treated like this!

Andrea's shoulders slumped slightly, and though she tried to block the memories from earlier out of her mind, she began to feel a slight twinge of guilt, as if a part of her disagreed... as if a part of her truly believed she did deserve this... all of this. Darryl hadn't noticed any of Andrea's inner turmoil...how could he when half her face was slathered in tape? But he did start to feel something besides anger toward his fellow captive, and his cheeks began to warm as he looked into Andrea's eyes and at her bright blue hair.

You know, she's kinda cute when she can't say anything mean...

Darryl shook his head rapidly.

What am I thinking? She's not cute, she's awful!

The two kids turned their heads away from one another again, unable to stand looking at each other for more than a few fleeting moments. The van barreled down several more streets until finally coming to a stop. The back door opened, revealing a third masked man: the one who'd been driving.

"We're here," said the driver, as light from the late afternoon sun illuminated the back of the van and made Andrea and Darryl squint and look away. "You two behave yourselves during the drive?"

"Yeah, these brats were pretty well behaved," said one of the kidnappers, standing up and grabbing Darryl by the back of his shirt, while Andrea was grabbed by the other kidnapper just underneath her right arm. "Though it ain't like they had much choice!"

The kidnappers dragged the two out of the van before picking them up and putting them over their shoulders. For the first time, the trapped captives could take a look around and see where they were... just outside a storage unit, with rows and rows of metal doors and a tall wire fence around the entire compound. They didn't seem to be in Brighton anymore, though neither of the kids could make out any nearby landmarks or could hear any cars going by.

"Don't think anyone'll be by to save you. I know the guy that runs this place, it's usually closed on weekends so we'll have it all to ourselves today and tomorrow."

The kidnapper's words did little to discourage the kids from struggling. Andrea let out another scream, kicking her legs weakly up and down as she tried to call out for help.

"HMMMMMM! MMMMM! Mmmmm...!"

"Heh, good job shutting her up," said the man holding Darryl. "Though we're gonna have to take that gag off to feed her, right?"

"Guess that depends on whether or not she behaves," the man holding Andrea replied, smirking at her under his ski mask. "You promise to behave when we take that gag off in a few hours?"

Andrea just stared wide-eyed at her captor, her expression a mixture of fear and rage.

"I'll take that as a maybe... so maybe we'll remember to feed you tonight," said the kidnapper.

The mention of food made Darryl's stomach rumble... he'd had lunch a few hours ago, but he could sure go for dinner, and hoped that whenever the bad guys fed Andrea, they'd feed him too. As if reading his mind, or perhaps just hearing his stomach, the kidnapper holding Darryl laughed and looked at him.

"I don't know about you though, last time you could talk you tried to bribe me. Plus, you ain't the one making us any money, your girlfriend over here is."

I'm not his girlfriend! Andrea raged, kicking her legs again. And don't you dare feed him before me!

Darryl's eyes shifted slightly, giving the kidnapper a pleading look. It was an involuntary change of expression, which both Andrea and the masked men saw. The kidnappers just laughed, while Andrea felt another twinge of emotion.

...though... I imagine he probably eats a lot more than I do, thought Andrea, sighing through her nostrils and thinking about how much pressure she felt to keep her weight down. Must be nice not to have to worry about it so much...

"Well, welcome to your new home for the next couple days, or at least until your mommy and daddy cough up the ransom money," said the driver, gesturing to the interior of the storage unit. It was relatively bare, save for a small air mattress in the middle of the floor. The kidnappers had prepared it well, leaving no sharp objects or corners that a potential prisoner could use to free themselves, and Andrea shivered as she looked it over.

This is the creepiest place I've ever been, she thought to herself, wondering when her captors would allow her to use the bathroom... and what that might entail. As her mind wandered, she was dropped rather rudely onto the mattress, with Darryl thrown down next to her. "Mmmfff!"

"Sorry there's only one mattress, but we weren't expecting guests," said one of the kidnappers, pointing to Darryl. "Guess you two'll have to work something out, good luck with that. There's a port-a-potty nearby, we'll bring you over one at a time when that need arises..."

Andrea shuddered again, groaning in disgust, while Darryl just shrugged his shoulders.

Can't be any worse than the downstairs bathroom before Scratch cleans it... he thought.

"But before that, there is the small matter of the ransom video..."

As Andrea and Darryl sat on the mattress, looking up at their three masked captors, one of them pulled out a box from their bag of supplies, and Darryl recognized it as a package containing a burner phone. After the phone was unpackaged, one of the men grabbed Andrea and hoisted her to her feet, dragging her over toward the wall.

Unhand me! she muffled, furious and frustrated with this latest indignity as she was shoved up against the back wall of the room. The phone was pointed at her, and a bright light was shined on her face, briefly blinding her and causing her to shriek. "Nmmm!"

"This won't take long, and the sooner we get it done, the sooner your parents will pay us and the sooner we all get to go home," said one of the masked men, leaning in toward Andrea as one of his partners prepared to shoot the ransom video. "Who knows, maybe they'll pay up tonight and you won't have to use that port-a-potty outside, wouldn't that be a relief?"

As the masked man put his hand on Andrea's shoulder, she twisted away from him, letting out another shriek and recoiling from his touch.

Don't touch me! Let me go or I'll make sure you never see the light of day again!

Andrea's muffled protests were more of a defense mechanism than an honest threat, and Darryl could see the genuine fear in her eyes as that light was shone on her and as the masked man continued trying to brush the hair from her face. Though he was still furious with her for everything she'd said and done to his sister, he couldn't help but feel another twinge of sympathy, and he was genuinely uncomfortable every time the masked man put his hand on her, even if he was just trying to make sure she looked good for the video.

Hey, stop touching her, you're freaking her out! muffled Darryl, before looking up at the kidnapper who remained standing next to him. Tell those guys to quit it!

"When we start filming, I want you to act nice and scared, got it? I mean really turn on the fear, big scared eyes, tears gushing..."

Andrea did indeed feel like crying, but now that these jerks were telling her to do it, there was no way she'd give them anything they wanted, no matter how scared she was. She immediately turned toward the man and gave him her harshest diva glare, her eyes going from wide to very narrow very quickly.

Get screwed, thought Andrea, more angry with her kidnapper than she'd ever been with someone like Molly. No one tells Andrea Davenport what to do, especially not some lowlife creep!

"C'mon, haven't you ever acted before? Just pretend like it's a commercial, only instead of trying to get people to cough up their money for useless crap, you're getting your parents to cough up their money to save your life! I mean it, act like your life depends on it, because it does."

Andrea continued to fume, determined not to give these kidnappers anything they wanted... it wasn't as if they could hurt her if they still wanted their ransom money.

Just film your stupid video! she thought, looking away from the phone as she continued to try and twist away from the kidnapper. Who cares if I look mad, they'll give you whatever you want but I am not helping you extort my parents!

And as Darryl watched, he actually gained a small amount of respect for Andrea. He thought this would be like almost every ransom video he saw on late night TV when he snuck and watched crime shows without his parents knowing... the victim scared and crying for their parents to give the kidnappers whatever they wanted, begging to be saved! And it wasn't like Andrea was the bravest girl around, not even close, considering how badly she freaked out whenever Scratch pulled his shenanigans around her. Andrea should've been sobbing and begging, but she was defiant and determined... her pride temporarily subsuming her fear.

He almost found himself cheering for her.

"She ain't cooperatin'," said the man holding the phone. "Should we just snap a pic, call her folks, and get it over with?"

"No," said the kidnapper nearest Andrea. "I know how to get a nice scream outta her, start filming."

Andrea raised an eyebrow at her captor's words, but as she saw the phone's camera light turn on, she huffed and turned away... only to suddenly feel a sharp yank as the man behind her pulled on her hair as hard as he could.

"Listen up, Davenports... we have your daughter."

"MMMMMMMMMMMMMM!" Andrea shrieked in pain, eyes snapping shut as her hair was violently pulled back. She was then shoved forward toward the camera, and an arm was wrapped around her body as the kidnapper's other hand yanked on her hair again. "NMMMMM, STMMMMMMMMPH!"

"If you don't cough up fifty million dollars in 48 hours, this little brat is gonna be skinned alive and you'll find her corpse in the river, you got it?"

As Andrea shrieked again, Darryl lunged forward, rushing to Andrea's defense. He tripped on his bound ankles and fell to the ground, but continued to squirm toward Andrea and the kidnapper, unable to keep from trying to protect her.

STOP IT, YOU'RE HURTING HER! Darryl yelled under his gag, forgetting, at least for a moment, about every cruel thing Andrea had ever done to his sister. I SAID STOP!

Before Darryl could get back to his feet, he was tackled and held down, letting out a grunt of pain. Andrea looked at him and her eyes went wide with fear, only for her head to be roughly shoved toward the phone that was filming her distress.

"We'll send instructions on where to send the money. If you try to pull anything, get the cops involved or any other stupid move..."

The masked man produced a gun and stuck it right up against Andrea's cheek. Before, the criminals hadn't displayed a weapon, but seeing the gun caused another wave of fear to go through Andrea's body, and as her eyes focused on it, terrified, she let out another muffled yelp, then looked into the camera, a tear falling down her face as she gave the criminals exactly what they wanted.

"We'll be waiting for your reply," said the kidnapper, making sure his partner got one more good shot of Andrea's terrified face before ending the video. Afterward, he shoved Andrea to the ground, forcing another cry of pain from her as Darryl continued to struggle. "Great work, I think that was your best performance yet."

"Mmmmm...!" Andrea cried out, looking up at the kidnapper before looking over at Darryl. What's going on...?

As the kidnapper continued to hold Darryl in place, the man with the gun walked over to him. Darryl looked up at him, glaring... and the man then stuck the gun right up against Darryl's forehead, pressing into it and putting his finger on the trigger.

"Listen here, you little shit," the kidnapper swore, as Darryl's eyes went wide with terror. "The only reason you're even still alive is because we haven't thought up a place to hide your body... and the only reason you'll stay alive is if we think it's worth our while to keep you that way. So far, it hasn't been..."

Darryl gulped, and he began muffling under his gag, begging the kidnapper not to hurt him. Andrea looked on, silent, watching and not knowing what to think or to do.

"Maybe we kill you now... doubt anyone would pay anything near what would make it worthwhile to keep you around. Certainly not your mom and dad, am I right?"

Darryl continued shaking, unable to think of anything to say or to do... he'd always been so good at convincing people to do what he wanted them to do, but without the ability to speak, he had nothing, and even if he could try to talk his way out of this, he didn't have the first idea what he might say to convince these guys to keep him alive. His life began flashing before his eyes... he saw his mom, his dad, Molly, Scratch, Grandma Nin... and he worried about what they'd think if something happened to him.

"Maybe we use you to get your girlfriend to comply... but... something tells me she's not your girlfriend, is she?"

Darryl looked over at Andrea, who immediately looked away from him, closing her eyes and bowing her head, not wanting to even think about him right now... or see him get his head blown off.

"Something tells me you two don't even like each other... maybe you should work on changing that, because she's the only thing keeping you alive right now, understand?"

Darryl bowed his head and closed his eyes.

I'm screwed, he thought to himself, knowing Andrea would sell him out in a heartbeat to save herself... and realizing he couldn't exactly blame her, even if she was a jerk.

"But for now, killing you would be too messy..."

Darryl could feel the gun leaving his forehead, and could see the three masked kidnappers walking toward the door of the storage unit, leaving him on the floor and Andrea on the mattress. Andrea was currently wiping the tears from her face onto her shoulder, and Darryl... he was too stunned to do anything but lay there and blink as he and Andrea watched the kidnappers open the door.

"We just sent the video," said one of them, "and we'll be back once they respond. Hopefully for your sakes, it doesn't take very long."

"In the meantime, you two get nice and comfortable... something tells me you'll be here for a while."

The two kids could then see the door slamming shut, leaving them with only the dim light of the bulb above to illuminate their surroundings. Darryl, once he'd recovered from the shock and terror of having a gun pointed at his head, sat up and scooted back onto the mattress, trying not to even look at Andrea. He knew what the bad guys had said... that he was only alive because of her... but even if he could say something to Andrea, what could he possibly say? He couldn't even keep them from hurting her, let alone him.

Maybe this is my fault, thought Darryl. If I hadn't shown up at the park to give Andrea a piece of my mind, maybe she'd have finished packing up and she'd have been out of there before the kidnappers took her.

Darryl looked up at Andrea, who could see him but wasn't trying to move toward him or say anything. She just sat there, thinking about everything that had happened, still wincing from the harsh hair tug and having her own flashbacks to having that gun pointed in her face. She looked down at her taped up hands and at her taped up legs, and though she knew that her only chance of getting out of this would be to struggle, she didn't have the energy or the mental fortitude to do so.

What if they don't pay the ransom? thought Andrea, not wanting to imagine that her parents might not pay, but fifty million was a lot of money... What if they... what if they...

Andrea shivered in fear, but she wasn't going to cry... not again. She couldn't let the cruel people who'd taken her know that they'd gotten to her. She wasn't some helpless girl who needed saving, she was a Davenport, and she had to be strong, for the family. Her heart was pounding in her chest, but she tried not to think of the threats, or the gun, or the fact that she was sharing her captivity with a boy who the criminals had just threatened right along with her.

What happens to him is none of my concern, she thought, trying to remind herself that she was the most important person in this room. He wouldn't even be here if he hadn't tried to... if he hadn't tried to stop me from giving his sister a hard time.

Andrea sniffled, then shook her head.

He's here because of me!

She shook her head again.

No! He's here because he was stupid enough to try and be rude to me, and I don't care what happens to him!

She could hear sniffling from nearby, and she turned her head to see Darryl sitting next to her on the mattress, turned slightly away from her.

Though he was trying to hold back his tears, they'd started to come down his cheeks, and he was looking at the floor, letting out quiet sobs.

Andrea watched as Darryl continued to softly cry, still turned away from her, more fear in his eyes than she'd ever seen in them before.

As scared as she was, he was just as scared as her, if not more. She watched him, trying to remind herself that it was his own fault he was here.

Trying... and failing.

Andrea scooted up beside Darryl, sitting next to him and looking down at his face. She looked at him and her expression softened, and she leaned slightly toward him.

She muffled softly, trying to get his attention.

"Mmmm?"

He continued to look down at the floor and sob, having not heard her. She muffled at him again, slightly louder.

"Mmmmmm?"

This time, Darryl looked up, and could see the look of sympathy and understanding in Andrea's eyes. Andrea, her heart still beating rapidly, her mind still racing with her own fear, continued to lean toward Darryl, offering him her shoulder.

And Darryl, more frightened than he'd ever been in his entire life, leaned into Andrea's shoulder, letting out another sob. Andrea immediately leaned her head against his, nuzzling him slightly and letting out another soft sound, trying to comfort him.

It's... going to be okay...?

Andrea had no idea if it was going to be okay... but as Darryl continued to lean into her, drawing comfort from the most unlikely of sources, she started to believe her own reassuring thoughts, and she felt a warmth that she'd only felt when she'd gotten the approval of her parents. It was comforting, and she could feel her fear and anger subsiding. She looked down at Darryl, who looked up at her with a slight blush. Her eyes widened with the realization that she was comforting someone who just a short time ago had been in a bitter argument with her... but then she let out a sigh, and her expression softened again.

It's... going to be okay.

As for Darryl... mostly, he was embarrassed, embarrassed to be scared, to be crying, to be seeking out comfort from someone like...Andrea Davenport. He felt as if he was betraying Molly, betraying himself... but he and Andrea were the only ones here, and they were going through the exact same ordeal. The fact that she was willing to comfort him at all was a surprise, enough to make him rethink almost every interaction he'd ever had with her... was she just being nice because they were trapped together, or was she a genuinely good person who'd just done some mean things?

All Darryl knew was that he wasn't nearly as scared as he had been before... and also, that Andrea smelled really nice, probably because she used some fancy perfume or something. He liked this... he liked being close to Andrea. He looked up at her again, and his cheeks began to turn red.

Andrea's... kinda pretty, actually.

Andrea could see the blush on Darryl's face and the look in his eyes, and immediately knew from his expression exactly what he was thinking. For a brief moment, she thought about rolling her eyes, but with him staring into them, she knew that might hurt his feelings... which she suddenly cared about for some reason.

Ugh, he likes me. That's what you get for being nice, Andrea. ...but is it really so bad? I mean, lots of people like me... my Fandreas, obviously. And I have to block a bunch of creeps from my page every day, creeps who are way too old for me which is super weird and gross. I thought it was nice to be liked? And, I mean, of course it is, but... this kid's crushing on me and he's like what, two years younger, and the little brother of Molly McGee? ...and he's also in danger, just as much danger as me. He's scared, and... and he stood up for me before, or at least tried to. ...I have to be strong for him... I have to be strong for me.

Instead of rolling her eyes, Andrea kept smiling with them, even letting out a slight giggle. She resisted another urge, the urge to wrinkle her nose... being this close to Darryl reminded her that he was kind of smelly, but, she supposed, not too smelly, and it wasn't as if he could help it now.

The two continued to sit on the mattress together, Darryl still leaning against Andrea's shoulder, and Andrea continuing to nuzzle him and give him reassuring looks... the most she could give him considering the strictness of the gag both over and inside her mouth. She sighed... as annoying as it was to hear Darryl's voice, she would've loved to be able to talk with him now. She wasn't sure if she'd apologize or ask him for an apology, but she had things to say, and she knew he probably did too.

Darryl had begun squirming again, thinking that maybe if he got free and then saved Andrea, it might impress her. He wouldn't have cared about that before, but now he was determined to get them both out of this, and before long, he was devoting the entirety of his efforts toward freeing himself, and wasn't leaning on Andrea anymore. He rocked back and forth and tugged fiercely at the tape, trying to break it off his hands to no avail. Andrea looked on, slightly worried that Darryl might hurt himself in his struggles, but unable to do anything to discourage or help him.

I don't think this tape's coming off, but I can't just sit here and let him... wait a minute, my phone!

Remembering the phone she still had in her pocket, Andrea began shifting herself around in an effort to free her phone from the pocket of her hoodie. It didn't take her long to slide it out, and it landed on her mattress with its screen facing up. She let out a small yell of triumph, drawing Darryl's attention.

Whoa, a phone! thought Darryl, ceasing his efforts for the moment and peering over Andrea's shoulder to look at the phone she had in front of her. Call for help!

Working quickly, Andrea began using her nose to tap on the screen, quickly turning her phone on and activating its facial recognition features. Unfortunately, it needed both her eyes and mouth to be able to recognize her face, and with only her eyes visible, that was a non-starter. She'd need to tap out her pin number, but after tapping out the first two digits, she sensed that something was amiss, peering behind her shoulder to see Darryl looking on.

Don't even think about it! she muffled at him, demanding that he avert his eyes before she continued. With a sigh, Darryl turned around, and Andrea typed out the rest of her pin, gaining access to the phone itself. Now, if I call the police, they should be able to use my phone's location to find us...

Andrea leaned in again and started to tap out the police's phone number, only for a text to pop up on her screen. It was coming from Molly, and Andrea groaned and rolled her eyes.

Ugh, how did she even get my number?! thought Andrea, looking down at Molly's text. It was asking if she'd seen Darryl, and Andrea groaned again. Yes, he's here with me, now how do I swipe out of this thing?

Andrea leaned in again, while Darryl watched, somewhat amused by the girl's exhaustive efforts to use her phone with just her nose. Andrea leaned in to text Molly, but hit the dial button by mistake, and the phone began to ring.

"NMMMMM!" Andrea cried out in frustration, as Darryl leaned in and used his own nose to put Molly on speaker. What are you doing?!

"Hello, Andrea?" came Molly's voice over the phone's speaker. "You there? Is Darryl with you?"

"MMMMMMMPH!" Andrea screamed into the phone's speaker as loud as she could. WE'VE BEEN KIDNAPPED, HELP US!

"What the...?"

Andrea continued to scream into the phone, and Molly let out a gasp.

"Darryl! Did you tie up and gag Andrea for revenge? What did I tell you about tying up and gagging people?!"

"MMMPH MMMMPH!" Darryl shouted, yelling under his gag that he was tied up with her.

"This isn't funny, why'd you gag yourself? Put Andrea back on, you didn't cover her with fake blood again did you?!"

Letting out an exasperated groan, Andrea nudged Darryl away from the phone and used her nose to tap out a quick text message to Molly.

"WE'VE BEEN KIDNAPPED FOR REAL. WE'RE IN A CREEPY STORAGE SHED SOMEWHERE. THIS IS NOT A PRANK. SEND HELP!"

Andrea gasped from exertion, the tip of her nose now quite sore. She could hear Molly gasping over the phone.

"How... what... why... where?! ...don't worry, I'm coming, we're coming! Darryl, it's gonna be okay! We'll find you... somehow... oh my gosh, oh my gosh...!"

Just call the cops! Andrea yelled, only for the conversation to end as Molly hung up her phone. Andrea let out a loud sigh, falling onto her back and groaning in pain and frustration. As she lay there, wondering how Molly was ever going to save them, she could hear Darryl tapping out another text message, not to Molly but to his own phone. He then gestured for Andrea to look at what he'd tapped out, and after reading it, Andrea looked at him.

"its gonna be ok. trust me."

Darryl, despite his fear, was smiling under his gag. Andrea raised her eyebrow, then sighed and leaned down, using her nose to tap out a reply.

"how?"

Darryl obviously couldn't tell Andrea about Scratch, but he did the best he could to try and convey that yes, help was on the way. He tapped out another quick message, and Andrea looked.

"our weird friend who scared you at ur movie is coming."

Andrea groaned again, and Darryl tapped out another message.

"was funny when i dumped fake blood on u."

Andrea, despite herself, giggled and sighed, and tapped out a reply.

"ill get u for that later."

"with what? ur followers? oooh scary"

"ill sue u!"

"i have a lawyer too u know."

You have a lawyer? thought Andrea, raising her eyebrow at Darryl. He just smirked and winked at her, and Andrea let out another muffled giggle, before sighing and slumping her shoulders, giving her fellow captive a look of concern... and apology. She tapped out one more message, and Darryl looked down at it.

"I'm not going to ruin Molly's rep at school. You're a really good brother for standing up for her."

The effort it had taken Andrea to use proper spelling and capitalization indicated to Darryl that this particular message was quite sincere, and when he looked up into her eyes, he could see the honest regret in them.

He blushed, fiercely, and Andrea typed out another message.

"It's going to be okay."

He bowed his head suddenly, knowing that Andrea realized just how hard he was crushing on her. He looked at her phone, and tried to think about something to tap out to her... this was so weird, he'd never felt like this about a girl before, and to have these kinds of feelings about Andrea Davenport? Two years older than him, the most popular girl in school, the girl who'd been super mean to his sister?

He could see Andrea leaning in over his shoulder, as if to reassure him.

Hey... she muffled, her cheek brushing against his. Listen-

The door to the storage shed flew open, and the three masked men reappeared. They immediately noticed the phone, and one of them grabbed it and picked it up.

"Who did you call?" shouted the man, holding the phone menacingly as he pointed it at Andrea. "Who the hell did you call?"

"Hold on, I can check," said one of his partners, taking the phone and scrolling through the texts. "Looks like they didn't call anybody, they were just tapping out messages to each other..."

"What? You clever little shits," remarked another of the kidnappers, laughing and reading the messages over his partner's shoulder. "Huh? You have a lawyer?"

"That reminds me," said the first man, grabbing the phone back, while one of the others closed the door behind them. "Your mom and dad just called us... and guess what? They're not paying."

"WHMMMMPH?!" Andrea muffled, rising up as much as she could, eyes wide with shock. That's not true, of course they'll pay!

"They said instead of paying us fifty million dollars, they're going to sue us for fifty million dollars for threatening them, and if they hurt you, the lawsuit goes up to a hundred million!"

Oh my god, those idiots! Andrea shouted, realizing that her parents were using the same negotiation tactic with these kidnappers that they used with all the Davenports' other enemies... they had no idea how much danger they were putting her and Darryl in! "MMMMMPHHH!"

"Think maybe we haven't gotten through to them," said one of the kidnappers.

"That's fine," said the man holding Andrea's phone, before snapping it in his hands. "Guess we'll have to show them we mean business."

The kidnappers then separated Andrea and Darryl, one of them taking Darryl to one end of the room and holding him in a tight headlock while the other two kidnappers grabbed Andrea and put her on her knees against the wall. As the kidnappers were doing this, both captives began to struggle wildly, screaming under their gags and trying to squirm free, but they were easily restrained, and one of the kidnappers holding Andrea began to cut away the tape from her right hand, exposing her fingers but leaving her left hand encased and her wrists taped tightly together. Andrea clenched and unclenched her hand rapidly to restore some of the feeling and circulation to her fingers, only to feel her right ring finger being grabbed and held tightly by one of the kidnappers as another of them brought out a small metal tool. As she realized what the tool was for, she struggled harder than ever, shrieking under her gag as her eyes went wide with terror.

No, no, NO! Don't you dare use that thing, no...! They'll pay you the ransom, you don't have to do this, please...!

"Hope you weren't planning on wearing your wedding ring on this finger," said the kidnapper, moving the tool toward Andrea's finger, her eyes widening further as she stared at the sharp blade moving toward it. "Maybe those fancy lawyers of yours can sue your finger to make it reattach itself."

As hard as Andrea was struggling, Darryl was struggling even harder, trying to get his neck out of the kidnapper's grip.

NO! NO! LEAVE HER ALONE! DON'T HURT HER! DON'T HURT ANDREA! PLEASE! DON'T YOU DARE! LET HER GO!

"Shit, kid, quit fighting, you're lucky it's not your finger!"

"It'll be something else if you don't quit it!" said the man moving the tool toward Andrea's finger, looking over at Darryl. "Then it won't even be worth it to impress your little girlfriend!"

The criminals all shared a cruel laugh, but this caused the one holding Darryl to loosen his grip, allowing him to slip free. He did so, and hopped toward Andrea, leaping out toward her only to be quickly tackled by the man who'd been holding him before. As Andrea looked on, the criminal held Darryl down with his body while grabbing for the roll of duct tape and stretching it out.

"Y'know what? We really didn't wanna kill you before, but now you're just in the way, so I hope you enjoyed breathing because you're about to do a whole lot less!"

The kidnapper then attempted to cover up Darryl's nose with the duct tape, trying to suffocate him. Darryl managed to twist his head away, but the kidnapper was persistent and strong, and the boy couldn't hold him off forever. The tape was soon pressed over Darryl's nose, cutting off his oxygen, and his eyes went wide with fear, looking up into Andrea's, who was equally terrified and began screaming even louder than she had when her finger was at risk. Instead of struggling to get free, she was struggling just to get the gag off so she could speak, crying out as loud as she could with tears rapidly streaming down both cheeks.

"MMMMM! MMMMMMMMMMM! NMMMM! PLLLMMMMPPPH! NMMMMMM!"

"Sorry, but you should've warned him not to mess with us when you were having your little conversation on your phone before. Now you're gonna watch him suffocate and it'll be all your fault."

Andrea's eyes were wide with terror, and she continued to beg under her gag, pleading with the kidnappers to let Darryl go. She no longer had any anger, her face was a twisted fusion of horror and despair, and Darryl could see in her eyes a look far more frightened than she'd been when Scratch had scared her before... genuine fear for the life of someone other than herself, as he screamed out for his own life as he struggled frantically to breathe.

And the kidnappers could see that fear too, and one of them, out of sheer curiosity, ripped off Andrea's gag and pulled the socks from her mouth, if only to hear the rich girl beg for his own amusement.

"PLEASE, DON'T HURT HIM!" screamed Andrea as soon as the gag was removed from her mouth. "I'll do anything you say, just let him go...! I'll say whatever you want, I'll make as many ransom videos as you want, I'll make sure mom and dad pay the ransom money, just don't hurt Darryl, please...! I'm begging you... please... please let him go..."

As Darryl struggled to breathe, he could feel the tape being yanked off his nose, and he gasped through his nostrils. He looked into Andrea's eyes, which were still looking into those of her captors, pleading for his life.

Andrea... you'd do all that to save me...?

"Well?" said the man holding Darryl, looking up at his fellow kidnappers. "This kid still useful, or too much trouble?"

"...guess the message finally got through," said the man holding the tool to Andrea's finger, looking into her eyes. "You do everything we say, and we'll let him go along with you, IF your mom and dad cough up the money... you got it? That means everything... you cry for us, you scream for us, and you WILL make your parents pay up... and no more struggling or trying to escape, understand?"

Andrea just nodded silently, tears still falling quickly down her face.

Andrea... muffled Darryl, bowing his head. Andrea looked over at him, swallowing hard and swallowing her pride... she still didn't know entirely why she was so terrified that he might get hurt, but for the first time in her life, she felt an overwhelming urge to protect someone, and it didn't matter who it was.

She then looked back at the kidnappers, hoping that making another ransom video was all they wanted to do.

"So, since you've agreed not to struggle anymore... I don't suppose you'll have much of a problem giving up your finger to show your parents how serious we are, will you?"

"What?" gasped Andrea, before the wet wad of socks was shoved back into her mouth and her lips were sealed back shut with a fresh dozen wraps of tape. "MMMMMMM!"

Andrea shivered violently, remembering her deal to save Darryl's life but still horrified at the prospect of losing one of her fingers. She looked up at the kidnappers again, begging them not to do this, but stayed as still as a statue as the tool was lifted back up to her hand.

"MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!" Darryl screamed, calling out Andrea's name as another tight headlock was put on him. NO, DON'T!

Andrea just watched as her finger was held in place and the tool moved toward her finger. She sobbed, and closed her eyes, looking away as she readied herself to have it severed from her hand.

This isn't happening... mom... dad... please... please pay them, I can't take any more of this...!

The blade began to close around Andrea's finger, and the lightbulb above suddenly flickered off.

"Huh? That thing's an LED, it ain't supposed to burn out for another ten-"

A loud grunt, followed by a crash. The lights came back on, and Darryl was suddenly alone on the mattress, next to an unconscious masked man. The light flickered off again. When it came back on a second time, the man who'd been holding the finger snipping tool was suddenly wrapped up in duct tape from his neck down to his ankles, and the other man was staring at the wall in shock and horror at a large shadow behind Andrea. Andrea, stunned by this development, turned around, only for the lights to flicker off again.

"What the hell's going on? Who's doing this? Who-"

On the far back wall, a terrifying ghostly figure rose up, thousands of teeth bared, screaming in rage. Andrea recognized it as the same ghost she'd seen during the filming of her movie.

Darryl told me his weird special effects friend was showing up...! This is all just special effects then? But... wow, it's still as scary as ever...!

Despite knowing it wasn't a "real" ghost, obviously, Andrea still gasped, the sight of the familiar ghost still quite disconcerting. The kidnapper, however, believed it was indeed real, and screamed in absolute terror before falling to his knees and begging for mercy.

"RELEASE THE CHILDREN AND TURN YOURSELF IN!" the ghost screamed. "OR DIE!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" screamed the criminal, before passing out on the spot. His taped up partner passed out as well, leaving all three baddies unconscious on the floor. As the light flickered back on, and the ghost disappeared, Andrea had a moment to catch her breath, and she gave Darryl another look. The two were wide-eyed and shaking, both with tears streaming down their face, but Darryl was managing a smile under his gag... and Andrea did the same.

It's... going to be okay, she thought, finally realizing it was true.

The door to the storage room then opened, and Molly was standing there, gasping with relief to see that her little brother was okay... and Andrea too, to a lesser extent.

"DARRYL!" Molly cried out, running over to her brother and hugging him tightly. "OH MY GOSH I WAS SO SCARED I'M SO GLAD YOU'RE SAFE!"

Molly then yanked the tape off Darryl's mouth, prompting him to let out a muffled yell into the socks.

"Oooh... sorry 'bout that," said Molly, nervously smiling and gingerly pulling the socks from her brother's mouth. "You okay?"

"Yeah..." Darryl replied, falling into his sisters arms and relishing in her hug now that he and Andrea were safe. "I was... pretty scared too."

"Scratch is here too, obviously," whispered Molly, so Andrea couldn't hear. "He's just hiding from Andrea."

"I figured," Darryl replied, whispering back. "I'll thank him when Andrea's not around. ...speaking of Andrea..."

While Molly and Darryl enjoyed a tearful reunion, Andrea sat watching and catching her breath after her ordeal. It had been the most frightening day of her life... but also, in a way, the most illuminating. Now that the sheer adrenaline was wearing off, and the poor girl had time to think, she played back everything that had happened, everything she and Darryl had endured together.

He... really did save me, thought Andrea. Darryl was looking toward her when she looked over at him, but he quickly resumed whispering to Molly, who gave Andrea a look as well. I... I don't know what to say.

Meanwhile, Scratch was hiding in his invisible form, assessing the damage he'd caused and inspecting the room for food. Finding none, he allowed himself to feel momentarily relieved that Darryl was okay... and, like Molly, he was also relieved about Andrea, to a lesser extent of course.

"Would be a bummer to lose my favorite scaring victim," Scratch muttered with a laugh, also noting that Andrea was single-handedly keeping up his scare count enough to protect him from the Flow of Failed Phantoms. "Just hope she recovers from this experience, nobody gives Andrea Davenport PTSD but me!"

Molly and Darryl continued to talk to each other, and though the boy had been terrified before, he quickly seemed to have bounced back from the experience after just a couple minutes of having Molly around... his sister seemed to have that effect on people. As soon as Andrea could see that Darryl wasn't scared or crying, she decided she'd spent enough time waiting to be freed.

"Mmmm, mm mmmm!" she called out to them. Hell-oooo, super important victim needing rescuing over here!

"Oh, right, sorry Andrea!" Molly said, making sure to pronounce her name correctly. "I'll have ya outta that tape super quick!"

Molly walked over to Andrea and began unwrapping the tape from her mouth, being more careful to remove it than she had been with Darryl.

"Here, I'll just... it's stuck on real tight... just lemme..."

Andrea winced as the tape was slowly peeled from her skin, her eye twitching with every small incremental bit of progress Molly made.

"Awww, just yoink it off, much better to just rip off the bandaid and get it over with!" shouted Darryl, before reaching up and peeling the entire wrapping of tape from Andrea's face.

"MMMMMMM!" Andrea shouted before spitting out the socks. "That's the second time somebody's done that today, my face is too pretty to take so much abuse!"

"Well excuse me, Ahhhhhhhhndrea," Darryl said with a smirk. "Just thought you'd want to thank me for being so brave and stuff."

"Actually," said Molly, smiling at Andrea as she began freeing her wrists and her left hand from the tape, "Darryl says you were super nice to him during this whole ordeal."

"...! Well, I mean-"

"And that you even let him put his head on your shoulder when he started crying."

Andrea looked at Darryl, who was blushing fiercely and sheepishly looking away from her, already having second thoughts about telling Molly the whole truth about what had happened. Andrea blushed slightly as well, though not for the same reasons as Darryl... at least, not entirely the same. She looked and could see the genuine gratitude in Molly's eyes, and though she was still somewhat shaken from her ordeal, Molly's presence was having the same effect on her that it had had on Darryl, to a somewhat lesser extent.

"...of course I did! As Brighton Middle School's goodwill ambassador, it's my responsibility to look out for the safety and well being of all my fellow students, even when I myself am in danger!"

"Riiiiiight," Molly replied, finishing up on freeing Andrea's arms and starting to work on removing the tape from her legs. "Thanks for looking out for him, Andrea. I know he can be a handful sometimes, but he really is the best brother ever."

Andrea watched as Darryl hugged Molly tightly while she finished working on freeing her from the tape. It was a display that was almost too sweet, but Andrea couldn't help but think of her own family as she saw how affectionate the McGee siblings were toward one another.

Meanwhile, I had a gun pushed up to my face and my dad's first thought was to sue, thought Andrea, putting her hands in the pockets of her hoodie and looking down at the floor.

"Hey," said Darryl. "Mind leaving the room for a second so me and Andrea can, um... talk about everything that happened and so you can call the cops to get these guys out of here before they wake up?"

"...yeah, that sounds like a good idea actually, you two probably need some time to talk about it," said Molly, leaving the room as Scratch dragged the three kidnappers out. Molly gave Darryl a wink just before the door closed behind them.

"...wait a second, did those guys just drag themselves out of the room?" said Andrea, blinking. "And where's that special effects guy, I guess I should, uh, pay him some money or something?"

"Andrea, um, listen..." said Darryl, nervously grinding his foot into the floor as he shyly looked up at Andrea. "I know I said some... rude stuff earlier, and.. well, the thing is... I was wondering if maybe... if maybe... if maybe I could do some work for your social media pages? Like, I mean, they're cool and all, but I bet you could get a lot more views with a different color scheme and some more embedded videos, and maybe you could do some comedy sketches? I could totally write them for you, and I'll do it for free!"

Darryl knew he didn't have a chance asking Andrea out, but he figured it was worth a shot to ask her for a job. At the very least, it could get his foot in the door with her, right?

But Andrea... she knew exactly what Darryl was really asking her, and as flattered as she was, and as grateful as she was to him for... pretty much everything, up to and including saving her from losing a finger, she just didn't feel the same way about him... and as much as she loved her fawning Fandreas, she never wanted to take advantage of them.

"Listen, Darryl..." said Andrea, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I know we've been through a lot, and I know you want to work with me, but... I just can't accept any work offers from Fandreas. Considering that we now have a parasocial relationship, I feel that it would be taking advantage of you, and so I must respectfully decline!"

"Parasocial? Dude, we literally spent the last hour tied up and gagged in this storage shed together, there's nothing para about that! I'm not asking as one of your Fandreas, I'm... hoping we can be friends... even if you don't like me like me, you know?"

Andrea sighed, realizing that Darryl could see right through her attempts to be formal and business-like, habits ingrained in her by her parents, habits she realized she might someday have to break if she wanted real friends and not just... Fandreas.

"I might not like you like you, but... you like me like me, and that's why we can't work together. I meant it when I said I don't want to take advantage of you. ...look... I might not be the... best person, but I don't let people work for me for anything less than a fair price. Once you've gotten over your crush, maybe we can talk about working together, and I promise, I'll pay you fairly for your time."

"...can we still be friends?" asked Darryl. "...I mean, after you apologize to my sister."

"Right," Andrea replied, bowing her head and feeling a fresh twinge of shame. "After I apologize."

"...don't even know what came over me," Darryl said, walking toward the door with his head bowed. "Just because you let me put my head on your shoulder doesn't mean you haven't bullied my sister. But back there, the way you protected me... what even was that?"

"You got kidnapped because of me," Andrea said, following him and reaching out. "I couldn't let you get killed because of me too."

Darryl turned and could see a look of shame on Andrea's face... one she had ever since Darryl had reminded her of the whole reason he was even there.

"I'm sorry," said Andrea. "I'm sorry you got kidnapped, I'm sorry for..."

"You should talk to Molly," Darryl said, smiling and reaching over to open the door. "But I think you already knew that."

Andrea just nodded, and as the door opened up to reveal the setting sun in the sky, she looked up at Molly, giving her a smile. Then she looked at Darryl.

"Thanks for saving me," she said, leaning down and kissing his cheek. Darryl's eyes went wide, and Andrea giggled as she walked over to Molly. Darryl then turned toward Molly, his face bright red.

"She's way too old for you," said Scratch.

"Dad's two years older than mom," Darryl replied with a smirk.

"And way outta your league," Scratch continued.

"We both have lawyers," Darryl replied.

"I think she likes your sister," Scratch said, pointing out the blush on Andrea's cheeks as she approached Molly.

"Molly likes Libby."

"You know what? I'm not gettin' involved," said Scratch, crossing his arms over his chest and watching Andrea talk to Molly.

"Don't worry," Andrea said to Molly. "I'm not interested in your little brother."

"I figured as much... did you let him down easy?"

"He wanted to work for me for free, but... I don't let people do that. Surprising, I know."

"Nah," said Molly. "Honestly, I've always had a feeling you weren't all scowls and selfishness. You just... need the right push, you know? I honestly wasn't thinking it'd be a kidnapping... and actually I'm really sorry that happened, are you okay?"

"...not exactly," said Andrea, wrapping her arms around her chest. "My own parents didn't even want to pay the ransom. They just threatened to sue the kidnappers."

"Like that guy from that movie? The hairy guy who yelled and swore a lot, played by that real famous actor whose name I can't quite remember..."

"Come again?"

"Ah, I'll think of it eventually."

"Well... you're lucky, Molly... your family pays attention to you. If you got kidnapped, they'd pay every dime they had to save you, wouldn't they?"

"No, mom and grandma would probably just hunt down the kidnappers and murder them. But, I mean, yeah, if that wasn't an option they'd pay whatever they could, which obviously isn't much, but-"

A tear streaked down Andrea's face, and Molly reached up to wipe it off, only for Andrea to turn away.

"Andrea, it's not that your parents didn't want to save you. They love you, but... I mean... and I don't really know them so I'm just guessing, but they probably saw it as a business negotiation, they didn't realize those guys would resort to hurting you right away. You should talk to them, tell them how you feel... tell them they need to stop ignoring you, because you, Andrea Davenport, are really awesome!"

"Really?"

"Hecks yeah! You're an influencer, you have tons of followers online, you spent thousands of dollars on your own money to pay for our school sign-"

"But I just did that so my parents would-"

"Bup-bup-bup, I'm not finished!" said Molly, putting her finger to Andrea's lips. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand... you saved my little brother's life, and I will never, ever, ever, EVER forget that, ever. No matter how much you bully me, no matter how many of my craft fairs you ruin, no matter how mean you are, my little brother Darryl is alive because of you, and that makes you, Andrea Davenport, an awesome person."

Andrea just stood there silent, not knowing how to respond to the highest genuine praise she'd ever gotten. She blinked, and waited for Molly to say something else... but instead, Molly just leaned in and gave her a big, tight hug, and Andrea felt the rest of her trauma fading away. She stood there and let Molly hug her as long as she felt like doing it... which, considering that it was Molly McGee, was quite a long time... and when the hug was over, she was still quite speechless, all except for one thing.

"...sorry about your craft fair," Andrea said, reaching over and holding Molly's hands. "I'll make it up to you."

"You already did," said Molly, turning Andrea's head toward Darryl. Darryl just smiled and waved at her, then blushed brightly. Molly could see that Scratch had just whispered something into his ear, no doubt about Andrea.

"Yeah... I guess I..."

As Andrea trailed off, sirens could be heard in the distance... it was the police, coming to arrest the kidnappers, and followed by a squadron of news vehicles... with the Davenports' limo bringing up the rear. As the police rushed out to arrest the criminals just as they awoke, as news reporters swarmed, shoving cameras and microphones into Andrea's face, she just watched as her parents got out of their limo and rushed to her side, genuinely relieved that their daughter was safe. She didn't know what to think, or what to say... but with the cameras rolling, she played it up for them, giving the press the tearful reunion that would be shown on every television screen within hundreds of miles.

Molly just walked back over to Darryl, hugging her brother tightly, and quietly thanking Scratch for rescuing her brother and Andrea. The reporters ignored them in favor of the Davenports, of course, allowing them to find their own way home.

O-O-O

The next day, Darryl sat up in the attic with Molly, the two having spent the whole morning together while Scratch slept in. All their parents knew was that Molly and Darryl had helped to save Andrea Davenport from some kidnappers with Scratch's help... they didn't know when they'd tell them that Darryl had been kidnapped too. Molly even let her little brother have his pet tarantula with him, as petting Heidi seemed to keep him from being too traumatized about everything that had happened.

"So, after all that... you still doing okay?"

"Yeah, I think so," said Darryl, smiling and petting Heidi's back as his sister wrapped her arm around his shoulder. "How'd you guys find us, anyway?"

"Your phone has some... interesting apps," said Molly, finally remembering to give both of Darryl's phones back to him. "Does the NSA know about them?"

"The fact that I'm sitting here and not locked up in federal prison should answer that question," Darryl said with a sly smirk. "Bet Scratch never thought he'd wind up saving Andrea."

"Oh, he's glad he did," said Molly. "Got something to hold over her head if she ever finds out he's real and not just some crazy special effects guy we know."

The two siblings shared a laugh, and Darryl leaned into Molly's shoulder.

"I know Andrea's probably never gonna be into me, but I still think she's pretty... I know it's weird, it's weird, isn't it?"

"It's not weird, Andrea is pretty," said Molly. "You don't have to feel bad about it because she's a bully... I still hope someday she'll realize that using the power of social media to manipulate people into fawning over her and doing what she says is wrong. Maybe yesterday was just the start of her redemption journey!"

"Normally I'd say you're way too nice, but this time I'm thinkin' maybe you're right," said Darryl, as he and Molly's phones both pinged at the same time. "Think this is Andrea's latest video?"

The two both took out their phones, and sure enough, a video of Andrea was playing on her page.

"Hello again, Fandreas! I'm sure by now you've all heard of the close call I had yesterday when some mean kidnappers tried to hold yours truly for ransom! Of course, it was impossible to pay because I'm simply priceless, and my parents do NOT negotiate with kidnappers, so let that be a warning to anyone else trying to do the same thing! Also, I'm pretty sure the people who took me are never getting out of prison, so, you know, there's that too!"

"I see she's back to normal," said Molly. "That's... good, I guess?"

"So if my parents didn't pay the ransom, how am I here? Well, I'm glad you asked! I'd like to tell you that I escaped on my own, BUT, the truth is that I was rescued by a couple of very, very good Samaritans who just happened to show up just as the kidnappers were going to hurt me!"

Molly and Darryl's pictures appeared on the screen.

"I want to give a big, big thank you to Molly McGee and her sweet little brother Darryl, who rescued me from the kidnappers! I know, any of you Fandreas would have done the same thing, and I love all of you, but these two wonderful Fandreas just happened to be in the right place at the right time! And speaking of being in the right place at the right time, make sure you're at the park on Saturday morning for the craft fair, sponsored by Davenport's, where you'll get a chance to meet yours truly, AND you'll get a chance to buy stuff from the hero herself, Molly McGee! She's absolutely awesome at making all kinds of amazing things, and she's just a super all around good person too! Hope to see all of you there, lots of love!"

The video ended, leaving Molly blinking and Darryl ecstatic.

"All right, Molly! Lookin' like a craft fair re-do for you!"

Molly's phone then pinged again, and she looked at her messages. There was a text from Andrea. She opened it and read it.

"Thanks again for saving me, Molly. If you need any help setting up for the craft fair, or any supplies, let me know."

The text was followed by a heart emoji, and Molly stared at the message for several more seconds before letting out a jubilant scream.

"I'VE GOT CRAFTS TO MAKE! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Molly squealed again and ran out of the room, leaving Darryl and Heidi, as well as Scratch, who'd been woken by the loud squealing.

"...aw geez, now I gotta spend another week helpin' make dumb scarves and shawls and I'm never gonna get any sleep am I?"

"Sorry, Scratch, that's what happens when you save people's lives," said Darryl.

"You know, you woulda liked it as a ghost, and I'm sure Andrea woulda been very popular in the Ghost Realm-"

"SCRATCH, I NEED YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOU!"

Scratch sighed and floated out of the room. After he did, Darryl heard his own phone pinging. He took it out and looked at the text, also from Andrea.

"Friends?"

Darryl smiled and typed his reply.

"Friends."

He then leaned back on Molly's bed, sighing and smiling, holding his phone in one hand and petting Heidi with the other.

"Wonder how Andrea feels about tarantulas?"